At some point in your work life you’re going to run into a situation where you will have to work with someone you don’t like. And if that person is a member of your team — because they have the unique skills required to do the job — it may be a big challenge for you.

Working with someone you don’t like can raise your stress level and impact your productivity, so you’ll want to make sure you find a way to deal with the issue. The key to this is to remember that the one thing you can control in the situation is your response.

As the saying goes,

Life is 10% what happens and 90% how we respond to it.

So, how do you cope? Do you have to set your values aside to make your work life tolerable? Nope. Your first step is to take a logical view of the situation. Determine what it is about the person that irks you so much. If it’s a behavior they can change, you might want to consider whether giving them feedback will improve the situation.

If you determine feedback won’t improve the situation, you’ll need to develop a relationship that enables the two of you to work together to achieve the goals of your team. This can start with a simple, frank discussion. Something like, “I know we have our differences, and that’s okay. We both bring value to this project and I’d like to make sure we have a good working relationship to ensure the project outcome is the best it can be. Here’s what I’d like to do to make that happen…”

It will take a bit more work on the part of both of you to make this relationship successful, but will be worth it in the long run. What do you think? Have you been in a situation like this? Please offer your suggestions.

Denise O’Berry — aka the Team Doc — has been working with teams and team leadership in the public, non profit and private sectors for over twenty years. She gets a lot of joy from working with teams and their leadership to help them improve and work through team issues. Not only does her advice come from the heart, it comes from years of experience working as a team member, team leader, manager and owner of her own company. She has truly walked in your shoes and offers help so you can be a better team leader. You can find more advice from Denise at her website Ask Team Doc and don't forget to follow her on Twitter @deniseoberry.